Even the serial number (if you had it) will only give you an idea of the year the drum was made (maybe a six month window). Even if there were a date stamp there is some question as to whether they were stamped when the shell was made or when the drum was assembled (sometimes the two things happened months apart).

Middle ply is always poplar.

white paint = approx. 1962-1968

Badge placement = approx. 1964/5 onward.

I think you might have it narrowed down about as well as possible but someone smarter than I may be able to narrow it down a bit more.

What sort of muffler actuator does it have? Small knob, ball bat, big knob?

And if bat, what color felt?

Mike

thanks Mike the only hardware I had was lugs so it's been an interesting and expensive exercise!! Thanks so much for your kind input

that Resacote stuff has me wondering a bit. It's harder than common old house paint and I do believe it was most probably sprayed on. To me it looks like 2 pack polyurethane paint used on boats and planes etc..but then if WFL said so I guess we can only nod our heads in agreement.. They claimed it had magical acoustic properties too ..I think a hard paint does make the material resonate more as a whole but I'm not an acoustic engineer

there is a big gaping hole where the muffler was which tells me that the fitting came loose and maybe some kids played with it over the years so pretty sure a baseball bat type with white felt..

The white paint was supposedly ceiling paint purchased from a supplier close to the factory. It's primary purpose was to make the drum interiors match regardless of whether the drums combined into a set configuration had different ply lay-ups.